Lifestyle medicine is the nonpharmacological and nonprocedural management of chronic diseases that is practiced across many specialties in healthcare, as discussed in Lifestyle Medicine: Closing Research, Practice and Knowledge Gaps, our just-released book for health care professionals edited by Jeffrey Mechanick and myself.
We were fortunate to have industry leaders author cutting-edge information in each of their respective lifestyle medicine chapters.
In this book, we look at the science behind topics such as:
- Dietary patterns for cardiometabolic risk reduction
- Exercise and diet in people with inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis
- The role of diet, physical activity, stress reduction and sleep in individuals with inflammatory bowel disease
- The use of diet, nutrition, physical movement, mind-body practices, sleep and social connectedness as a component of Lifestyle Psychiatry to help individuals with mental health conditions
- Lifestyle strategies specific to improving chronic disease related to bone, brain, kidney and lung health
- The role of lifestyle measures, such as nutrition, physical activity, restorative sleep, avoidance of toxins, maintenance of a healthy microbiome, and stress coping in comprehensive cancer care
We also discuss the establishment of Obesity Medicine as the fastest growing sub-specialty in medicine, that incorporates lifestyle medicine as foundational therapy.
If you’re a patient interested in using lifestyle medicine to improve health, here are 3 things to know:
1-Your Primary Care Provider can be an Excellent Resource
Many primary care providers already counsel patients on lifestyle medicine strategies for staying healthy and preventing disease.
If your primary care provider is treating you for a chronic condition like high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity, most likely they’re already using lifestyle medicine strategies to help you.
Counseling on dietary changes, activity modifications and improvement in stress coping behaviors can improve your health outcomes.
2-Be Proactive during Heath Care Visits
What if you have an autoimmune condition like rheumatoid arthritis, a mental health condition like depression or anxiety or even a cancer diagnosis?
Here, you can be proactive and ask your health care specialist the right questions to see if any lifestyle modification strategies can help.
Some examples:
-can an anti-inflammatory diet lessen my joint pain?
-can a walking program decrease my anxiety?
-can drinking less alcohol lower my risk of cancer recurrence?
3-Specialized Lifestyle Medicine Support is Available
If your health care providers are not as familiar with lifestyle medicine strategies as you’d like, you can seek additional support.
To find a health care professional with a lifestyle medicine focus, check out https://www.lifestylemedpros.org/home
If you’re struggling with overweight or obesity, know that obesity medicine physician specialists use lifestyle medicine as a foundational treatment for those with overweight or obesity.
To find an obesity medicine physician specialist in your area, visit https://abom.learningbuilder.com/Search/Public/MemberRole/CertificationVerification
RK
Robert Kushner, MD
